


From the Shadows

by Skywolf16



Category: Naruto
Genre: Anbu Uzumaki Naruto, Attempt at Humor, Strong Uzumaki Naruto
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-05
Updated: 2019-08-06
Packaged: 2020-08-10 01:21:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20127019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skywolf16/pseuds/Skywolf16
Summary: Crystal blue eyes gazed at the scene before him and from the deepest recesses of his mind a rumbling sounded, softly at first until it rose in a crescendo pounding against his eardrums.Crystal blue eyes gazed at Orochimaru and the havoc he had wrought upon the Chuunin exams, his lips parted revealing fangs sharp as daggers.Crystal blue eyes closed and when his eyelids parted once more only burning slitted crimson remained.Naruto and the Kyuubi smiled as one and the world trembled before their hatred.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own nor claim to own any of the characters portrayed in this story except those potentially of my own creation.  
This is merely my own interpretation of the characters and story created by Misashi Kishimoto.

**Outskirts of Konoha **

Blue eyes caught the flicker of movement in his peripheral vision, a blur of movement originating from the nearby undergrowth, noting the position of origin his small, lithe body twisted itself in mid-air to maneuver around the incoming projectile - a kunai - he noted lazily. A steady application of chakra to his feet ensured his newfound position on the side of a tree trunk remained stable, a hand flickered revealing four shurikens laying ready in his palm, a swift arm movement and all three were shearing through the air towards the origin of the kunai, another flicker of movement revealed the enemy nin jumping up out of the undergrowth and from the path of the shuriken into the branches above. A grunt of pain caused whiskered cheeks to twitch in momentary satisfaction as his left hand released the one-handed seal, a simple genjutsu unveiled to reveal the fourth shuriken buried in the other nin's left thigh.

His fingers flicked to new positions and two clones burst into existence and launched themselves towards the lone shinobi, a quick burst of chakra and his shunshin landed him on the branch above the nin, deflecting a blow from a kunai with his right arm guard his left hand grasped onto the other right nin's forearm and with a twist of his body and a loud crack of bone the other nin screamed in pain, his arm clutched with the other. Whilst temporarily distracted by the pain his first shadow clone sent a kick to the nin's thigh burying the shuriken already lodged there even deeper, as the shinobi collapsed to one knee his second shadow clones kunai found the nin's throat and ended their life with a gurgle of blood.

Two puffs of smoke signalled the clone's dispelling, a long calm breath helped settle both the adrenaline flooding his body and his chakra that thrummed beneath the surface of his skin. Blue eyes glanced down at the corpse and took in the sound emblem carved onto the forehead protector, a quick search of the body as he pilfered the remaining kunai and shuriken in the corpse's pouch, a roll of explosive notes was the most exciting find. Going by the enemy's lack of significant skills and signature equipment he deduced it had been a chuunin, they made up the majority of most hidden villages forces and sound was no exception.

Unrolling a scroll of sealing, he placed it beside the body and with a burst of concentrated chakra the body disappeared into the seal space. Rolling it back up and placing it on the back of his belt, he surveyed his surroundings and determined that there were none other hiding in the area and with a quick hand seal his chakra shimmered over his body and blended him into the background.

As he journeyed back to Konoha Naruto's lips quirked, it seems that the Hokage had been correct in his suspicions that this year's chuunin exams would be unlike any seen before.

__________________________________________________________________________________________ 

**Two days later ...**

The constant hum emanating from within the academy's walls was beginning to grate on Naruto's nerves, his heightened senses were usually something he was quite proud of and were quite often the envy of the other Anbu, but like all things they did tend to have their downsides.

'Between me and the Inuzuka on the north-eastern corner, I wonder which one of us has it worst' Naruto mused, he had been posted on the western section right outside the classroom where all the genin had gathered to participate in the annual chuunin exams and the sheer amount of noise emanating from within was enough to make him question if there were any actual potential chuunin amongst them.

'At least the noise will quieten down once Ibiki has thinned the crow ---', his thoughts were cut off by a pulse of chakra from his right shoulder, the Anbu seal that was tattooed there was capable of both storing his Anbu uniform and mask as well as rudimentary communication deciphered by the length and density of the pulse that is sent, much like morse code this made instantaneous communication in the field and was a vital tool in an Anbu's arsenal.

This particular pulse came from his captain who wore the Weasel mask -- 'Jinchuriki present, Suna, shortest' -- Naruto's eyes swivelled to focus on the genin inside the classroom and immediately identified the genin in question, shortest amongst the suna nin, red hair - even without that the shadows under the genin's eyes were enough to distinguish him as the host of the Ichibi.

From inside his mind he felt a stirring akin to a rising growl that had it been audible in the outside world would likely have been not dissimiliar to a tremor that shakes the earth. A wave of calming chakra and a firm mental command was enough to make the entity recede for now, 'Don't worry fox, if things go as badly as I suspect they will I imagine you'll be called upon soon enough'. A discontented rumbling was all he received in response. Whilst he and the Kyuubi didn't always get along they had forged enough of a bond that Naruto was able to access up to four tails of the Kyuubi's chakra without dire consequences, accessing any more meant loss of control and allowed the fox full control. Accessing the fox's chakra allowed the Kyuubi to experience the outside world through Naruto's senses and was a blessed change in scenery for the fox and something that upon tasting once was enough to get him to co-operate for now.

Naruto smirked beneath his mask, the Chuunin exams had barely started and already they were shaping up to be far more frustrating than they ought to be.


	2. Snakes in the Grass

**Chapter II - Snakes in the Grass**

'It's official, Ibiki must be losing his touch' Naruto couldn't help but muse as he surveyed the results of the written exam. Over half of the assembled genin had passed the first portion and while Ibiki's deception on the last question whittled down a couple more teams the vast majority had the either the intelligence or the foolishness to stick it out till the end, a gutsy move for some of them particular for the Inuzuka whose heartbeat and nervousness had been obvious from the beginning and even Naruto had begun to be concerned over the shade of white he went once he had turned over the exam paper and first taken a look at the questions on the paper.

Naruto had also been rather concerned for the girl with the bubble gum pink hair sitting in the second row, he was convinced even now that the sparkles he had seen in her eyes once she saw the exam paper was some form of advanced genjutsu designed to distract the chuunin trying to catch out any unaware genin from the blatant cheating she must have been doing, if not Naruto had no explanation for the almost feverish speed that her pencil scribbled over the exam paper.

'I can really sympathise with the Inuzuka on this part of the exam, even with shadow clones I still find studying tedio ---' Naruto's thoughts were suddenly interrupted as his senses practically screamed at him, his gaze swivelled to face the incoming projectile only for his blue eyes to widen in surprise as he discovered the 'projectile' was in fact a tokubetsu jonin by the name of Mitarashi Anko.

Anko must have sensed something for just before she cannon-balled through the closed window of the academy's third story classroom a mere foot away from where he was crouched on the side of the building her head turned minutely to gaze in his direction, the smirk that graced her face in that brief moment was enough to set even Naruto's hairs on end. He had been subjected to training in both tracking, assassination and poisons with Anko previously and even though his fox mask hid his features she always seemed to recognise his presence even through various illusionary jutsu designed to camouflage the user.

'Don't make eye-contact, don't make ey --- shit' Naruto cursed himself 'how in all that is holy does she always seem to recognise me even through an illusion!?'.

'Still, even though I hate to admit it ... she does know how to make an entrance' he couldn't help but admit with envy 'and where the hell did she pull those flags from!', Anko's rather spectacular landing had culminated with various tiny fireworks, no doubt of an illusionary nature, and several flags that unless Anko had suddenly become particularly familiar with fuuinjutsu seemingly appeared from places on her body they really no right to appear from.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Mitarashi Anko**

'Aww it's cute that little fox-chan thinks he can hide from me, I'll have to request for the Hokage to permit me another tortu- training session with him. He really does have the best reactions and I've yet to find anyone else able to tank so many of my special concoctions in one go. Hmm maybe I can try out that new formula I stole from that rock nin two weeks ago', Anko's face composed itself 'innocently' at this thought as she ruminated on the various tortu-- training methods she could inflict upon poor Naruto.

Meanwhile the genin sitting in the classroom could only stare in horror at the evil, lecherous grin that formed on the newly appeared shinobi's face, even Ibiki the head of the torture and interrogation department edged slowly and subtlely away from her while many of the chuunin quickly assessed the various exits out of the classroom and noted the nearest one to them in case the deranged tokubetsu jonin decided to experiment on one of them next.

"Right, you fresh meat had better follow me to my favourite hunting grounds for the second portion of the exam ..." a look of confusion suddenly passed over Anko's face as she surveyed the remaining genin, "what's the matter Ibiki? You losing your touch or something? Or have you not started your section yet?"

"Perhaps, personally I just believe this year's newest crop are just more foolish and stubborn than those who partook previously. Though I will say that this year's participants appear particularly tenacious" a quick movement of Ibiki's eye directed Anko to the immediate threat in the form of Subaku no Gaara, the bloodlust and murderous intent practically emanating in waves off of him.

"Hmm .. oh well most of them will likely end up dead in the next section soon enough and I know for a fact that the inhabitants of my favourite haunt are feeling particularly voracious at the moment" Anko's sudden upbeat tone almost caused the disturbed genin to misunderstand what she said, at least before their brains caught up to their ears and the vast majority paled in pallor significantly.

"Right, well everyone follow me, after all I've got other places to go and cute little foxes to torment" most of the genin appeared appropriately confused when Anko half leaned out of the broken window she had entered from and promptly let her tongue wander lecherously upon her lips whilst her arms emphasised her 'assets' to the best effect. Ibiki and the other chuunin had felt both a wave of relief followed almost immediately by a wave of sympathy for whichever poor bastard had attracted Anko's obsession, many of them however felt that the relief far outweighed their collective sympathy and as such only wished for the unfortunate soul to keep Anko's attention diverted for as long as possible.

With a blur of movement, she was suddenly through the opening and on the roof opposite before most genin could blink, "well you'd better hurry up and follow her, otherwise who knows what she might do to those who arrive late" Ibiki advised the still traumatised genin.

As though shocked into motion the assembled genin burst into motion, many knocking into each other in their haste to manoeuvre through the narrow window in an attempt to catch up to who they had silently and unanimously coined the 'crazy lady'.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Uzumaki Naruto**

If Naruto had been trembling when Anko had sensed him before, he was now practically vibrating in terror. And as for the collective wave of sympathy he could feel indirectly wafting off the smug and relieved chuunin inside the academy, well they could shove a kunai right up their a-- "shouldn't you be joining them at training ground 44?"Ibiki's smug voice interrupted Naruto's violent thoughts.

"After all who knows what Anko might do to whoever keeps her waiting, and I don't think that applies merely to the genin either..."Ibiki's comments were met with a glare and murderous intent that would have killed a lesser shinobi, as it was the chuunin inside were once again evaluating their nearest available exits just in case.

Naruto's entire body posture suddenly radiated maliciousness and his next words had Ibiki's spine stiffening in anxiety, "didn't I hear from Hokage-sama that you were looking for a new personal assistant? Why I think I might know just the lady for the job ..." Naruto deliberately let his sentence trail off to savour the growing look of horror that had seemingly plastered itself to Ibiki's face.

"Y- you wouldn't dare you little brat!" with a cackle Naruto launched himself off the side of the building and a burst of chakra had him shun-shining halfway across the village with only his final words echoing back to Ibiki's worried ears, "isn't the Hokage's tower on the way to training ground 44, think I might just pay him a quick visit" the comment was followed by another cackle of laughter that had Ibiki's hairs on the back of his neck raised.


End file.
